Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica warned NATO members on
Sunday of serious consequences if they unilaterally recognize the
independence of the Serbian southern province of Kosovo.
"The fact that NATO bombed Serbia without the UN Security
Council's approval is its huge mistake, big enough for the last and
this century," Kostunica told a meeting of his ruling Democratic
Party of Serbia.
Any new, even the slightest, mistake of the NATO regarding
Kosovo would have serious consequences, the prime minister
warned.
Serbia announced a new constitution earlier this month, which
enshrines Kosovo as an "inalienable" part of Serbia. The document,
unanimously adopted by the Serbian parliament on Sept. 30, was
officially confirmed in the national referendum on Oct. 28 and
29.
Still, Kostunica said he was confident that "NATO countries
would not recognize Kosovo's independence unilaterally, without a
relevant UN Security Council decision, or in violation of such a
decision."
Technically still a part of Serbia, Kosovo, a place with ethnic
Albanians taking up about 90 percent of the population, has been
kept under the UN administration since 1999 in line with UN
Security Council Resolution 1244.
NATO launched a 78-day bombing campaign on former Yugoslavia in
1999 without the approval of the UN Security Council under the
pretext of seeking an end to the ethnic conflicts in Kosovo.
Martti Ahtisaari of Finland, the UN envoy for Kosovo, has said
he would wait to present his plans for the future of Kosovo to the
UN Security Council until after Serbia's general elections on Jan.
21 next year, delaying the scheduled end-of-year deadline.
This delay drew concerns from Albanian Prime Minister Sali
Berisha who said further delays in deciding Kosovo's final status
would threaten the delicate peace and stability in Kosovo and
beyond.
Kostunica said the Serbian government was confident that the UN
Security Council would never violate the UN Charter and the
explicit provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 on
Kosovo as part of Serbia's sovereignty and territorial
integrity.
He said it was important for the NATO member countries to
"strictly abide by Resolution 1244 and international law
principles."
(Xinhua News Agency November 20, 2006)
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